UMass football press conference will announce upgrade to FBS

Photo by David MolnarThe days of University of Massachusetts football playing teams such as Richmond (above) are coming to an end with an upgrade to the Football Bowl Subdivision.

AMHERST - After decades of debate, and with some difficult questions still to be answered, the University of Massachusetts football program will make the move to the Football Bowl Subdivision.

Beginning in 2012, the Minutemen will play their entire home schedule at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. The 2011 schedule will not be affected unless UMass increases its previously announced schedule from 11 to 12 games, as is allowed during the transitional phase.

UMass will join the Mid-American Conference, a league of predominantly Midwest schools that also includes Buffalo and Temple. The move will not affect the Minutemen's Atlantic 10 Conference membership in other sports.

A press conference Wednesday at Gillette Stadium will announce the move. Officials of UMass, the MAC and Gillette Stadium will be in attendance.

The 2011 UMass team will play in the Colonial Athletic Association of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). The FCS classification has commonly been called Division I-AA.

In 2012, UMass would play a mixed schedule of FCS and FBS teams. Its first full season as an FBS and Mid-American member would be in 2013, when the school would become eligible for postseason bowl games.

The FBS, the highest of the NCAA's four levels of college football, is known informally as Division I-A.

UMass sources confirmed the press conference would introduce the program to FBS football.

NCAA guidelines stipulate an FBS program must average 15,000 fans per home game over its first two years, or face review. UMass averaged 13,004 last year, and could conceivably reach the level at McGuirk Alumni Stadium, its campus site since 1965.

Gillette Stadium provides a larger, high-profile venue and better access for the Boston market of UMass alumni and fans, which are considered important to the acceptance of the program on the FBS level.

A UMass-New Hampshire FCS game drew 32,848 last October. Those teams will play again in Foxborough this fall.

The decision to upgrade comes after more than 15 years of debate. UMass will be required to add 22 football scholarships, raising the program's total from 63 at the FCS level to 85.

A commensurate number of women's athletic athletic scholarships must also be added for the school to maintain its gender equity balance. In all, about 40 new scholarships will be needed.

UMass is making this move as a calculated decision against the cloudy future FCS football in general, and especially programs in the Northeast. In the past two years, Hofstra and Northeastern have dropped the sport, Rhode Island has announced a move to the Northeast Conference (a lower-tier FCS league), and Villanova is considering a move to the FBS.

All have been members of the Colonial Athletic Association, which has added Georgia State and Old Dominion while losing teams from the Northeast.

Economics at the FCS level are such that almost no potential exists to make a profit. Moving to the FBS does not guarantee a profit, and in some areas will raise the risk of larger losses, but at least the opportunity to run a profit-making program exists.

Since the NCAA created Divisions I-A and I-AA in the 1970s, UMass has enjoyed consistent on-field success. The Minutemen have played in three national championship games (most recently in 2006), and won the 1998 NCAA title.

The university still routinely loses up to $3 million annually on its football program.

One way FCS schools have mitigated costs has been to play one game per year against at an FBS team. Last year, UMass received $550,000 to play at Michigan, one of the highest appearance-fee payouts in the nation.

Michigan made money, too, by drawing more than 110,000 fans to its home stadium for the game. In 2012, when UMass plays a mixed FCS and FBS schedule, it will have the option of scheduling multiple "appearance fee'' games, though none will likely approach the whopping Michigan payout.

Questions of whether FCS football will survive at all led UMass officials to look seriously at an upgrade, rather than risk waiting until their current level no longer existed - forcing a hastier and less autonomous decision.

An FBS team has the opportunity to play in bowl games and shares in conference revenue derived from bowl payouts. While the appeal of Mid-American Conference opponents remains to be proven, the potential for higher crowds also exists at the higher level, as do more opportunities for TV coverage.

UMass will now await an NCAA decision regarding three transfers from FBS schools. Normally, a transfer from one FBS school to another must sit one one season.

UMass is hoping for immediate eligibility because the players transferred while the school was still an FCS team. One of the transfers is Kellen Pagel, formerly of Bowling Green and projected as the No. 1 quarterback for the Minutemen.